<p>So, I've been accepted to two colleges (NJIT and Rutgers), and recently I really haven't been excited for college to come. At all. I've been considerig NJIT because I'm so interested in physical sciences, and the place is cheeeeap. Money is a really important factor here. However, I've come to realize how much it'll really suck to go there. The uni is in Newark, NJ, which is more or less "ghetto". Great. I've read a large amount of testimonials that the professors there are horrid, and in combination with the workload (I'm looking at chem-engineering or chemistry), it just provides a pretty crappy experience.</p>
<p>If I went to Rutgers, I feel like it'd still not be good at all. 'm not sure how the professors are there, but I'd still have an intense workload. It's also a HUGE uni s I'd feel overwhelmed particularly by the commute (35ish minutes to get there, probably another 30 minutes to get parking/get to classes because the city gets PACKED, like NYC or wherever).</p>
<p>Soooo, I feel like both the areas kind of suck, the people/prof at NJIT might will be sour, the commute at Rutgers would be a bit longer/hectic than for NJIT, and the workload either way will kill me. Crappy environment + no time for friends/family/girlfriend = crap life for 4 years.</p>
<p>Any comments, maybe something to chage my mindset? I really need help at this point...</p>
<p>You’re definitely oversimplifying the dilemma. Trust me, you will have time for a social life if you utilize your time wisely. Perhaps the tedious commute would be worth a much better academic experience? I would think so. </p>
<p>However, if money is the central issue, then you might just be forced to a college, which makes this post entirely pointless. </p>
<p>Thanks for the comments guys. I’ve been trying my hardest to stay positve right now. I think I’m leaning towards NJIT; I’m still figuring out how the education is down there compared to Rutgers (I just read that NJIT is tier-1 and Rutgers is tier-2? I believe that means NJIT might not be a load of crap). I don’t know… maybe if there are crap professors, I could just not really listen to the lectures and read the material/take notes during them instead of feeding off the prof.? I feel like that’d work cause I’d still be learning somehow. I’m actually trying to get in contact with some people I knew who go there currently and see how they like/dislike the place.</p>
<p>If worst comes to worst, I can always do my absolute best regardless and maybe find and transfer to a school that’d be willing to help me with tuition??</p>
<p>and to paradox3, I understand that college academics take a lot of work and determination (especially for any STEM majors). My concern with that is if I feel like my experience with college-life overall sucks, I wouldn’t have any motivation to keep up the hard work, you know??</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I haven’t just because I ignorantly thought “commuting = cheap”. I looked at costs/distance and never thought “well, maybe they can offer me something to lighten the debt of room and board”. I live in Union county so commuting wouldn’t be possible. I’ll look into Rowan now though.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where you got those rankings, but US News ranked Rutgers Engineering at 45th and NJIT at 76th for 2010. I think Rutgers is a much better school. In fact, last night I had a long conversation with an engineering professor at my local community college, and he was very hard on NJIT, saying they used to be a good school some 20 years ago, but have really declined. They hired a lot of research faculty to boost their cred as a “research institution,” but the professors they hired aren’t actually interested in teaching. The most common complaint from their students is that they can’t understand their professors’ thick accents (I would think that being able to decipher what your prof is saying might be important for your education, no?).</p>
<p>I also wholeheartedly agree with another poster on this thread that you should look into Rowan. They got a huge endowment that they invested into their engineering program, so everything is new and state of the art. They aren’t beholden to anyone (state or grants or anything else), so they accept who they want, hire who they want, and teach how they want. Among engineering programs in schools who don’t offer Ph.D. programs, they were ranked 25th. Definitely look into Rowan.</p>
<p>Also, regarding lifestyle, I don’t think Rutgers has a crappy environment. I went there for my first bachelor’s, and New Brunswick turned out to be a great college town, especially compared to Newark. If it’s just between the two schools, I’d say go with Rutgers over NJIT, hands down, and consider living on campus rather than commuting - these are supposed to be the best years of your life!!!</p>
<p>jkweir, I’ve just gotten over this (damn you lmao) but thank you for shedding some light. What do you think about NJIT vs Rutgers Newark if I were to just go into some science field??</p>
<p>the way i see it, It’s pointless to worry about your damn social life. You’re in the end there to get an education. Unless your a complete spaz you’ll make friends and find fun where ever you go. Remember NJIT is extremely close to NYC. I go to NJIT and have a GF in NYC, there are unlimited possibilities for recreational activity in that area, you just got to be more adventurous, where at Rutgers you are pretty much confined to the campus and the people on it.</p>
<p>Thanks jvargas. I wasn’t worried about social life on campus in general, just experiences related to commuting, professors, studies, etc. How do you like NJIT, education-wise (it seems like you all-around like it)? What’s your major??</p>
<p>Still looking for info? I live on campus, so I don’t know much about commuting, but there’s a light rail station right next to campus (really, literally) so commuting via Penn or the light rail system is no problem. For driving, I hear parking spaces can be hard to find sometimes. </p>
<p>Overall, NJIT professors are decent. Not spectacular, not abysmal. You get some good ones, you get some bad ones. I dare say that’s about the same as you’ll find in most other colleges. The bad part is since NJIT is so small, you might not be able to avoid certain professors because less, or only one, section of the course might be offered. Once nice fact is you can cross register at Rutgers-Newark for courses that NJIT doesn’t offer, mostly the non science ones.</p>
<p>Something I hear the most complaints about, and have had personal experience with, is that the administrative department is annoying to deal with. Especially if you try to EMAIL the financial aid department, don’t do that, they never reply =.= Another minor gripe I have is that the library is quite outdated, though they do more or less have the textbooks and reference books for general college student needs.</p>
<p>Did you apply/ get into Honors? They offer some pretty sweet scholarships. Not sure when the deadline is, but if you’re eligible, check it out.</p>
<p>If you want, you can PM me with specific questions.</p>
<p>if you have any questions about engineering at rutgers you can ask me
also, i know a lot of commuters in engineering as well. some live 30 minutes away and they still manage to have lots of fun. if you’re concerned about social life i’d highly recommend rutgers.</p>
<p>if were you I’d pick Rutgers over NJIT! i think overall you’d be happer at rutgers :)</p>
<p>i dont know if you can still make the deadlines/what your states are but you definitely should look into WPI (MA-boston area…sister went here VERY good engineering school top 20 in the nation for engineering? but courseload is very heavy), RPI (in NY comparable to WPI) & RIT (good? idk…) for engineering schools…if that’s your thing.</p>
<p>good luck & do your homework right for what school to choose! :)</p>
<p>hey guys, thanks for the many replies. this is gonna sound crazy but within the past few weeks i had thouhgt A LOT about what i wanted to do with my education/career/life and everything like that, and i’m scrapping the whole engineering/hysical science path because although i have ability and interest in it, i was looking towards it for the money, and more or less convinced myself that those areas were my true interests. </p>
<p>freshman/sophomore/early-junior year, i was extremely interested in nutrition and dietetics. i lost an large amount of weight before 8th grade, and that got me hooked to healh and helping other people become healthy. By mid-junior year, i let the average salaries of a nutrition/dietetics major turn me off, thus starting my year-long flip-flopping of major to major. thankfully, at the point that i applied to rutgers-NB and NJIT, i applied for environmental chemistry (which, for rutgers-NB, is under the school of env. and bio. sciences). for rutgers, i had to choose the department/college, and nutritional sciences happens to be under the same college </p>
<p>soooo, this long life-story just summarizes my little epiphany and choice to go to rutgers thanks everyone though for all the help!</p>
<p>I am a student hoping to transfer into a Civil Engineering program for the Fall of 2011. MY QUESTION IS: How sketchy is Newark? Hard qualification system, but is Newark TOO shady? There have been posts that address this, but I dont know what to think about Newark. If its like 6 or 7 or 8 o’clock and Im leaving class, are the subways normally safe? I have taken subways in Manhattan with ease and I am comfortable with the level of concern for my own safety in New York City, to give you a relative comparison. What do you think of Newark, and how often do you have to look over your shoulder?</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of a big city feel, so I didn’t like it too much… butttt, I heard the University Heights area is actually fairly safe, and has a good amount of cops strollign around. I heard outside of the part of the college area is pretty ghetto… but I think you’d be alright.</p>
<p>Just got admit from NJIT for my graduate program. Is it a preferable one well my major is mechanical engineering, How good is the campus?? what about the academics and lastly i’ve heard that campus has been doubled is it true??</p>
<p>What do you mean “the campus has doubled”? Since when? If you’ve never been to NJIT, then that fact won’t really make a difference. We’ve got around 9000 students total, but the campus is pretty small.
I like it here. “Academics” are decent - your question is way too broad. The campus is “good” enough, to make it “better” you have to be self motivated to get involved, not expect opportunities to just fall at your feet, it’s easy to get to NYC and other major cities via train. I suggest you try to find some mechanical engineering grad students to talk to for more specific information.
It’s no MIT, if that’s what you’re asking when you say “preferable”, but you’ll get a decent experience nonetheless. Bear in mind though that I’m speaking as an undergraduate student.</p>
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